Mental training is used by elite athletes to help improve focus, confidence and deal with distractions. Many athletes have the ability to concentrate, but often their focus is displaced on the wrong areas such as when a batter thinks “I need to get a hit” while in the batter’s box, which is a result-oriented focus. Much of my instruction on focus deals with helping athlete to stay focused on the present moment and let go of results.
The ability to concentrate in the present and keep focused on the task is very important to achieve peak performance in any sport. Focus on the important cues and disregard information that is less important such as the outcome or results. When you focus on possible future outcomes, it distracts you from what’s going on in the present play, shot, or routine. Thus, it is important that you focus on one play at a time and let go of results.
Check out The Focused Athlete program for more strategies to focus your best in competition.